Millions in Cash, Jewelry Found in ex-Ukrainian Ministers' Offices

23 Mar 2014

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office found millions in cash and jewelry in offices and apartments connected to ex-Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky and ex-Food Minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk. The new government in Kyiv is cracking down on officials in ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration. After he was ousted, the full corruption of his administration was exposed.

“When a search was being conducted in an apartment formerly owned by Stavytsky and, from March 15, by a legal entity, two safes and files of documents were discovered. A woman was caught in the act of destroying documents. Police had to use force after the woman offered resistance,” acting prosecutor general Oleh Makhnitsky said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Saturday.

“Two safes and files of documents were seized. One of the safes was virtually stuffed with cash worth about $5 million. The other safe was filled with 50 kilograms of gold in bars, and with gold, platinum and diamond jewelry pieces,” he said.

“The worth of the finding is being determined, but it is tentatively estimated at several million dollars,” the acting prosecutor general said.

In Prysiazhniuk’s apartment, authorities found $300,800,000 hryvni (Ukraine currency) and several thousand euros. In one of his associate’s apartment, they found 1.4 million hryvni and several thousand euros. Unfortunately, there may be more with the men.

“The former civil servants managed to transfer a larger share of their assets to foreign bank accounts. What was found in the searches was cashed-in assets. We think the cash had been taken out of the country in bags in several flights,” the deputy prosecutor general said.

The officials did not tell reporters where these men are currently located, but information will be revealed when the prosecutor general gives the okay. Everything they found in the apartments are valuable to the cases against Yanukovych’s officials.